Category Archives: Bianchi

Summer, tax and new bikes

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Well, feels like it’s just one year since last time I got a new bike (it is)..
But since the Bianchi was to small, no matter what I tried, I sold it and Elli sold a sewing machine.

This all made me look for a frameset from Genesis Bikes, more precise the Croix de fer frameset, plan was to use my other SRAM Apex groupset and build a touring bike from it.

frame-croix-de-ferThis is the frame I was trying to find, but could not get my hands on!

Well that was easier said then done, I think I called about 15 to 20 English retailers about it, no luck, I got in touch with Genesis on the facebook page, and got excellent service and information about future models, but the fact was still, the 2014 was sold out, and the 2015 was on the way, the Croix de fer was getting a carbon fork, a higher price and to satisfy the touring people a new Tour de fer was coming, which I didn’t want (I want a cross that can tour, not a real tourer).

After some thought and encouragement from my wife, we “solved it” differently..
Wednesday I placed a order for the full bike, so instead of building I’ll buy and now I’m going to sell all my parts instead. hopefully it’ll be here on Monday or Tuesday, thanks to Häggs cykel for stocking it in the right size!

 

frame-croix-de-fer And here it is, a full sized picture of what I will be getting, I’ll get back with my own pictures later on!

Departure day

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But not for any of us, JeanR went back to France today, he’s now spent eight days about at our place, but before he left we got to do another bike ride, destination Mälaren.


Järva, Barkarby, Kallhäll and back, nice little trip!

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Me and JeanR by Säbysjön, selfie style!

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JeanR at the beach with my Bianchi, and my Poison tanning at the same beach!

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JeanR looking at some preburger and a picture of our fika at Säbygård cafe, awesome cakes!

After this we went home, he repacked and we parted ways as he went to the airport, thanks for the company this week Frenchie, welcome back anytime!

A couchsurfer in Järva

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Ahh, summer is finally here, it’s way past 20°c in the sun, it doesn’t get dark early so we can bike late after work.
And yesterday that’s just what we did, and what a day it was!

Maybe some background information, we got a couchsurfer, JeanRemi from lé France, doing science stuff in Schweden for a month, he was supposed to stay with us for about two weeks, but it got cut a bit short due to girlfriend surprise  visit, resulting in a no go for our bike weekend!

Anyway, we managed to get out on Wednesday!


Tour de Järva

We went out and towards Hansta, some kind of hiking path/bike route or something, we saw some other mtb’ers go up there to, went ok, but my CX aint much happy about the rough terrain, neither is my hands, but what can you do.
From there it was towards the Natureschool and Bögs gård, with a food stop at the birdwatching spot at Ravalen.

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My poison CX leaning against the railings and JeanR trying to skip some rocks (my Bianchi in the background, JeanR is using it this week.)

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That’s one happy Frenchman, finding another rock to skip on the water!

 

After food we headed out and towards Översjön, had a little detour, got alot of mud on bikes and stuff, but in the end we got to where we wanted, even if we had to cross a fenced in field for cows (cowless today thankfully)

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I see a silhouette of a fat man! (me.. that’s me, I’m fat 🙁 )

From here we went for a quick fika at the McD at Barkarby Handelsplats before heading home via some random trails and tracks (see the map).

All in all, enjoyable and nice!

A new bike in the house

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Another day (another month to), and I finally got around to update this blog of mine.
It’s been slow, biking has started up again, still mostly commuting, but Easter is coming up and I’m home alone, so I hope to get some epic rides in, well maybe epic is the wrong word, but some rides non the less.

Anyway, I got a new bike, new for me at least, and in my eyes, she’s a beauty!
The bike is built on, as far as I can tell a Bianchi L480 frame, it’s a early 2000 Martini Racing team bike, it’s got a XT/XTR drive train and brake setup, and a old Rockshox SID dual air fork, it’s fitted with V-brakes (damn the old XT ones pack some breaking power) but it also has mounts for discbrakes, so that might be a future upgrade!

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So, there you see her, before I started fixing things, the main issues are/were the drivetrain components, the cogs where so worn the chain didn’t stick, so I’we swapped for a new 11-32 sram cassette and chain, and I swapped the wires for some jagwire stuff, a little adjusting and it runs smooth again!

I also have a pair of disc brake wheels that I’m thinking about using, though the disc touches the frame on the back triangle, not sure if I have to go down to 140mm disc back for it to work, but thats for the future.

I still need to check the fork, it’s got to little air, but I dont have a adapter for it, and I don’t know if it’s serviceable anyway, might just go for a new/used fork.

The last thing I need to do, probably is get a small can of paint to touch up some parts, there are deep cuts and dents in the paint job around the chain stay, cosmetic only, but still, oh and the saddle is more or less worn out!